In modern office environments of both the conventional type, with rows of private, fully partitioned offices having freestanding desks, credenzas and the like, as well as in modular office systems of the so-called "open plan" type, with rows of office cubicles partitioned by half-height freestanding panels, there has been a growing need for storage cabinets, cases or the like adapted to hold in a highly organized arrangement a large and varying number of work accessories. Because organization of work space in modern office environments is vital to work space efficiency and to obtaining a quality work product, a means within a cabinet which promotes such organization is very desirable.
It has also been desirable to provide a storage cabinet of this type, wherein work tools for storing the work accessories are adapted to be interchangeably positioned at various positions within the cabinet to accommodate workers of differing physical stature and to achieve a variety of organizational schemes. In addition, it has been desirable to provide the cabinet with a sliding drawer or the like, to close off from view the work accessories stored in the cabinet when not in use, wherein the mounting of the drawer to the cabinet is sufficiently strong so as to accommodate a large number of work accessories. It has been further desirable to provide a storage cabinet which is easily movable or transportable with relatively little effort to different loci in an office and between offices.
Storage cabinets and the like usable in office environments are known. Unfortunately, prior-art storage cabinets do not possess all of the above-described desirable characteristics.
For example, Kelly U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,192, issued Oct. 21, 1986, discloses a wall-mounted cabinet comprising a top wall, a bottom wall, two identical sidewalls, a back wall and a extruded member secured to the back wall and forming a plurality of vertically disposed horizontal hanger rails having indentations forming lips. Work tools, such as a pair of bookends and a variety of organizers such as trays, are removably mounted to the rails through hooks which rest on the lips and in the indentations of the rails. Although Kelly discloses a system within a cabinet to organize work tools, Kelly does not incorporate a pull-out drawer and is not freestanding and readily movable to different locations within an office or between offices.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,192 to Bayles et al., issued June 23, 1981, discloses a freestanding cabinet incorporating a series of horizontally stacked rails. Storage pins and trays are removably mounted to the rails by downwardly-depending lips secured to the bins and trays and which hook over the rails. Bayles et al.'s cabinet, however, does not have a drawer for hiding from view the contents of the cabinet and is not easily transportable in an office and between offices. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,468 to Winkler, issued Nov. 13, 1976, discloses an adjustable shelving and storage system wherein a cabinet has a plurality of rails secured to a back wall of the cabinet. However, like the cabinet of Bayles et al., Winkler's cabinet is not easily movable and does not have other of the above-described desirable characteristics.